Sunday, 19 September 2010

I'm going to start the blog with some positive news because after yesterday, some of us may need some.

The club are expected to announce their accounts this week and they will show Arsene Wenger will have a transfer fund of £50 million.

The documents will also reveal the club has lowered its £236m debt from building the new stadium and our expected turnover is about £220m, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Considering we only brought Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci with a fee into the first team squad and signed Marouane Chamakh on a free transfer we might only have spent around £10m.

We let go and moved on players who were earning vastly more money, so financially we're doing OK with our profit and loss on transfers.

It is good to know the money is there. Whether or not the manager will use it is another matter. I don't ever see him paying £30m for a player. That's not his style in the transfer market. And I think that is a good thing for Arsenal. We don't want to go bankrupt by signing 28-year-olds for silly money whilst having no consideration for the future.

If we continue to add two to three players for modest transfer fees who add something to our squad each window I'll be happy.

One of those players who joined us this summer wants to play against Spurs on Tuesday night.

Marouane Chamakh has offered his services to Arsene Wenger because of the injury crisis.

The striker said:

"I've spoken to the other French players at Arsenal like Gael Clichy and I've an idea of what it'll be like.

"It will be hot. Very hot! Boiling! I am told it is a remarkable atmosphere and that would not be a problem for me, not at all."

I personally don't think he'll start. I would imagine that if he's in the squad it will be as a substitute. Carlos Vela will start up front in my opinion, supported by Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Benik Afobe.

For a better idea about who might play you only have to look so far as the last first 11 who played for the reserves.

"I think they could win their first big trophy since 2005 if they had a few more combative and tenacious players.

"Don't get me wrong, they're wonderful to watch and play great attacking football. But I think they overdo the passing game.

"Against most teams it works, but not against the big clubs – and some teams think Arsenal are a bit soft and try to bully them."

It will be interesting to see what happens when we do play Manchester United and Chelsea. I personally think we've developed since last season as a team. Whether that is enough to shrink the difference there was will only be seen once we play them.

They all seem to be banning a drum for the manager to be charged by the FA. It would be amazing if he was charged with anything by the FA, considering they can't spot Paul Robinson's x-rated challenge on Abou Diaby and do anything about that.